Shalom this is Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg, the Ezra-Habonim, Niles Township Jewish Congregation in Skokie, Illinois. This is the fourth in the series of Jewish Values videos. I am going to cover five different values that are all related. The first concept is Halbanat Panim which is the -- the idea in Judaism that it is forbidden to embarrass someone in public. The Rabbies equated embracing somebody in public with murdering them, whether it’s Lashon Hara gossip, the feelud storytelling, making fun of somebody anything that we do deprive someone of their dignity in a public setting is a huge sin in Judaism and that is something that we need to work on very hard, God has very condemning language for someone in Rabbinic Literature who embraces someone in public. We must do everything we can to avoid it.
Related to that our concepts of Kavod, of honor, many people are familiar with the next value, Number 11 Kavod for Kabed et avikha ve-et imekha and the Ten Commandment says that you should honor your father and your mother and the Tanakh has specific ways in which this is supposed to be carried out to be made manifest, the way in which we treat our parents with the respect. The Rabbies broaden the concept of Kabed et avikha ve-et imekha to honor your father and mother with being your teachers, your elders, people for home, the society says that a person should pay respect. Regardless of anything else all things being equal those people deserve respect. Your parents, your teachers, your elders, and so we have the concept of Kabed et avikha ve-et imekha. The idea of Kavod though in value number twelve extends beyond that to Kavod HaBriyot, the respect for all living creatures.
This is related to not embarrassing someone in public to respecting your elders and your parents but the idea of respecting all human life is related the same word Briyot to the second value we had which is Ahavat HaBriyot, to love the creation, but this is respect to creation is to give attention to everything in the created world and to give it as much respect as we possibly can to give it a sense of the universality and the religiosity and spirituality in the divine nature of what guide for you.
The third aspect of Kavod in the Jewish Values’ construct is Kavod Anashim, all of the rules in Judaism is in design to encourage the respect for woman. Tradition respects those categories considered vulnerable. The Torah goes out of its way to single out people for paying particular attention to the orphan, the widow, the stranger, and women too, the Tanakh basically says that if there is a problem in the relationship of tall man that his tall should bend down and listen to his wife, man who yells in house is not a man. The idea that domestic harmony is the responsibility of the man, the woman should be respected and treated with dignity. We think about in the society all the problems in that regard Kavod Anashim respect of woman.
Finally in this value set a related concept is Hokeah Tokiah, that is the obligation to rebuke. You can rebuke when it's possible in a loving way but social criticism; Jews have all been at the forefront of understanding the deficiencies in the society. We have the contact of Tikkun Olam that people need to repair the broken world and the obligation to rebuke to look at the world and say it’s not as good as it should be. We need to improve it people need to improve their behavior in their lives, a Jewish value concept.
And so we are reviewing these five Jewish values from Halbanat Panim don't embrace someone in public. The various kinds of Kavod including honor your father and mother, your teachers and your elders, honor to be elderly. Honor woman and honor all of creation. Finally when you see deficiencies in these areas, you shall surely rebuke. These are five more values to ponder and understand as deeply significant in Jewish tradition.
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